Olivia tried looking calm as she was internally screaming. "Noah's told his classmates that Elliot is his father" she tried to rationalize things. She scrolled through her phone's contacts. While Elliot had said to call her, he'd never actually given her his phone number. There was a slight, small chance that in the past near decade that he'd been away, his phone number hadn't changed, yet. She found his contact information, having never deleted it, and it was oddly juxtaposed to the other male entries in the phone's directory, including Tucker, Cassidy, Amaro, Fin, and Carisi. Of course, they weren't all past romantic relationships, certainly not Carisi or Fin, but then again, she scrolled past David's name with a slight twinge of – guilt? Regret? She wasn't sure.
Here it was, Elliot's number. She pressed the green icon and made the call.
"Elliot, we need to talk" she rushed through the greeting, staring at him on the video call.
"Hi, how are you. Oh, I'm fine, thanks" he laughed through the conversation with himself.
"Hello, Elliot" she forced herself, "How are you?" she spoke through gritted teeth
"Fine, actually" he went on, "I've got a moment here at the bureau. What can I do for you?"
"We haven't spoken properly yet, and I hate asking you this-"
"Sure, the cat's out of the bag now, so just name it, Liv"
Olivia sighed, "I told you about my son"
"He's adorable" Elliot grinned, "when he's not having a meltdown"
"Yes" she agreed, "He's – he's told his classmates that you're his father"
"No really, Liv. What can I do to help you out?"
"I just told you" she frowned, "he's told his classmate that you are his father. And he's spending the night at the other boy's house right now"
"And what do you want me to do about that?"
"I figured if I warned you, let you know, that you could handle it on your end"
"Liv, I don't think think two grade school children can cause much of a problem. I mean, I remember when Eli was that age- hell, I remember when Dickie was that young, too" he smiled at her through the phone, "Do you want me to talk to him? I mean, is that too much or crossing boundaries?"
"I- uh" Olivia hesitated
Just then, Sonny Carisi stuck his head through the ajar door, "Hey Lieu, I was wondering if – oh, you're busy now"
"Let's meet outside. I'll call you in ten minutes" Olivia quickly ended the call, "Yes?" she glanced at the detective
"Since Rollins isn't going to be coming back to work anytime soon, on account of the baby, I was wondering if – were you planning on pairing me up with Fin, – or?"
"Yes, you'll be partnered with Fin for the time being. I know how – I mean, I know you'll want to be back with Rollins as soon as possible. I'm fine with that, as long as it doesn't interfere-"
"Oh, no – nothing like that" Carisi interrupted her, "I like working with her, and that's all, and I just- I want her to be happy, but it's nothing like that"
"Carisi" she slipped the phone in her purse and slung the bag on her shoulder, "Trust me. "I know better than anyone how easy it is to get close with somebody you're working with"
"It's really-" he tried to backpedal
"I've been there" Olivia went on, "and I know that it's not always easy" she crossed the room and was next to him, her hand on the doorknob, "if you'll excuse me, I've got a few last minute errands to take care of. I'll let Fin know he's in charge for the remainder of the day"
She left Sonny Carisi standing in the open doorway as she headed through the precinct and straight to the elevator. She gave a message to Fin as he was coming off the elevator as she stepped in.
A few minutes later, she was on the street, her ear to her phone, as she told Elliot where to meet her. They had much to discuss.